BOLD AND (TOO) COLD
Christina Spencer works on a sculpture of the Marvel character Groot Saturday morning in Central Park. With her husband, Brian, and children Moira and Delilah, the project took more than 20 hours to complete. Staff photo by Joni Hubred
The mercury hadn’t yet climbed above 10 degrees Saturday, but two moms bundled against the cold worked to put the finishing touches on a couple of 4-foot-tall snow sculptures in Central Park.
Temperatures were probably too cold for small hands–and definitely too cold for some of the events planned as part of last weekend’s Bold & Cold festival. The annual event is hosted by local businesses and organizations, and the City of Owatonna Parks and Recreation department.
Organizers moved the Rock on Ice skate party at Morehouse Park to Saturday, Feb. 4, 6:30 p.m.; snowshoeing at Brooktree Golf Course to Sunday, Feb. 5, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; and a luminary hike also at Brooktree to Sunday, Feb. 5, 5-9 p.m.
But Christina Spencer and Melissa Guy didn’t let the cold get in their way. Both are snow sculpting veterans, having entered with their families in previous years.
“This is our third year of doing it,” Guy said. “It’s something fun and different to do… just to get out and try to do it, you see other people do it.”
She said her family went through lots of pictures online before settling on something from the world of SpongeBob SquarePants, a cartoon character her sons Gabriel, 8, and Ezekial, 7, enjoy. They turned their 4-foot-square block of snow, provided by the City of Owatonna, into SpongeBob’s pineapple home.
The Spencer family is in their fifth year of snow sculpting. They started just to get outside with the kids and have some fun, Spencer said.
She and her husband, Brian, and daughters Moira and Delilah replicated the Marvel Comics character Groot. As of Saturday, they had about 25 hours into the project.
It’s their most challenging work to date, because of the bark on the character’s body and limbs.
“Actually, it’s going really fast this year,” Spencer said. “The snow quality is a lot better because they filled (the blocks) right after the snowstorm. Other years, it’s been almost ice, and we’ve been here up to 40 hours.”
Families also had a warmer Bold & Cold option Friday night, with an open swim at Owatonna Middle School. The event hosted by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department included the opportunity to roll an inflatable log in the shallower end of the pool.